Bayonetta Review

The demons of Inferno are your playthings -- now go crazy.

Bayonetta could have been the best action game on the PS3. After all, this over-the-top affair from Hideki Kamiya and his team at Platinum Games not only delivers some of the coolest combat mechanics around but it coats the experience in an eccentric, hyper-stylish shell. Unfortunately, the PS3 port of Bayonetta is a very disappointing piece of software. I love Bayonetta -- just look at my review of the 360 version for proof. But Bayonetta on the PS3 is a whole different beast.

The PS3 version has a lot of problems, primary among them being the excessive slowdown and loading. During certain scenes of high action, Bayonetta can slow down dramatically, enough to affect the gameplay experience. I can usually tolerate that sort of issue to an extent, but the loading problems are simply unacceptable.

This game loads all the time. When the player pauses the game during combat or a cutscene, there's noticeable loading before the pause menu is displayed. There's loading when you pick up an item and there's loading as you scroll through menus. There's even an obnoxious load time just to view a list of save files. For a game that's supposed to emphasize quick action and style, these loads are almost deal-breakers.

Besides these PS3-specific issues, there are also a number of problems that affect both the PS3 and the 360 versions of the game. Although the backstory in Bayonetta is extremely intriguing, the actual plot -- which I'll discuss shortly -- is loose at best. Bayonetta also has a few strange presentation elements that seem to contradict the game's normally detailed aesthetics. I refer primarily to the "filmstrip cutscenes."

Instead of fully animated cutscenes, the game will display some events with still models of the characters. The camera will continue to move during these sequences though, giving the otherwise static cutscenes a sense of motion. This is much more preferable to the age-old "talking cardboard cutout" that Japanese RPGs use during dialogue scenes, but I would have preferred seeing every sequence in Bayonetta fully animated.

It might be hard to imagine after hearing about these issues that Bayonetta is still a fun game -- but it is. At the heart of Bayonetta is a story about the traditional balance between light and darkness. Long ago, two clans -- the Lumen Sages and Umbran Witches -- maintained the balance between the opposing forces. The Lumen, aligned with the god of Paradiso, controlled the power of light, while the Umbra, funneling power from the demons of Inferno, watched over the darkness. Both clans had deep respect for each other, but a tragic event caused the two clans to enter into a terrible war. At the end, only one Umbra Witch remained: Bayonetta.

Bayonetta is too cool for school.

One of the most brilliant things about this backstory is how the two clans are portrayed. The Umbra Witches aren't necessarily evil so much as they are an important part of the universe's balance. The game, after all, is mostly about Bayonetta killing the angelic legions that stand in her way to the truth, but I never felt evil or diabolical while playing. It is just Bayonetta's purpose, and she fulfills that purpose with extreme skill.

Bayonetta is one of the coolest female characters I've ever come across in gaming. Although her sexuality is highlighted at almost every turn (which might lead gamers to believe she's a stereotypical heroine), she is also immensely powerful, calm and confident. Bayonetta is one of my main reasons to play the game, as she's just terribly fun to watch.

Of course, not everything about the narrative is great. Bayonetta's plot is all over the place, as certain character motivations and past events aren't clearly explained. Once you complete the game, things make quite a bit more sense, but this isn't as skillfully told as game stories like Mass Effect and Uncharted.